NMSU student gets second win at College National Finals Rodeo

July 02, 2011

Melisa P. Danho

NMSU

The College National Finals Rodeo was held last week in Casper, Wyo., and New Mexico State University senior Johnny Salvo won the tie-down roping category for the second time in his college rodeo career.

Salvo won his first national title when he was a freshman in 2008. This time Salvo beat out 44 other ropers from 11 regions across the country to emerge victorious with a 2.8 second lead over his closest competitor.

“It felt really good to win at CNFR twice and to end my college rodeo career with a bang,” Salvo said. This was Salvo’s fourth and final year in the competition.

As far as team standings, NMSU’s women’s team ranked sixth out of 33 colleges and the men’s team ranked 10th out of 50 schools.

“The standings went up and down but you learn in rodeo to just go with the flow,” said Jim Brown, NMSU’s rodeo coach. “In the end it was nice to have a both teams in the top 10.”

Brown said seniors and CNFR competitors Staci Stanbrough and Johnny Salvo will be missed by the rodeo team. In spite of this, he is looking forward to the new season in the fall.

“The freshman really stood out this year and we’re lucky because they’ll be with us for a while,” Brown said.

As far as Salvo goes, he is looking forward to joining the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and plans to compete in six rodeos over the weekend of July 4.